The Key To a Successful Day

“The Rebbe keeps urging me to continue my studies, but I feel I’m wasting my time,” Yankel Getz, a student at the University of Maryland, raised his complaint during a 5726 yechidus.

“The secret to success in anything in life is to be organized,” the Rebbe said. “The Tzemach Tzedek was asked how he managed to write so much alongside his many responsibilities, and he said that he had set times for writing, and when the allotted time ended, he would stop even in the middle of a sentence.”

The Rebbe then smiled broadly and asked, “And what is the key to seder?”

“Davening Shacharis with a minyan,” the Rebbe answered. Just as Rosh Hashana affects the entire year, the morning davening sets the tone for the entire day. Without a minyan, the day can be left “without hands and feet,” lacking order and direction.

Davening with a minyan also helps avoid distracting thoughts. And even when thoughts arise, the Rebbe added, they are of a different kind: whether to daven quicker or slower, whether to go past the chazan or to wait for him.

“Such extraneous thoughts are completely different,” the Rebbe said, raising his hand upward.